You can now help support WorldwideDX when you shop on Amazon at no additional cost to you! Simply follow this Shop on Amazon link first and a portion of any purchase is sent to WorldwideDX to help with site costs.
The Feb 2025 Radioddity Giveaway Results are In! Click Here to see who won!

Reply to thread

Message

I imagine that there are probably a few people that have put these amps on Spec Analyzers to test them out, but there aren't any "official" specs. I remember a few years ago looking at a Texas Star on a spec analyzer, but I don't remember the outcome.

You can speculate fairly easily which are the cleanest of the CB amps by looking at how they are constructed. Look for something that has AB biased transistors, thermal bias regulation of some type, and some type of output filtering. Just about the only thing that I've seen that has all of that are some of the Palomar amps. You can also add your own filtering (30Mhz cutoff low pass filter) externally, if you want.

The other thing that's important to understand is that you have to be careful with how hard you drive these amps also. Most (probably all) of the CB type amps don't have any type of input swamping to prevent over-driving the transistors. When you overdrive them, they will show more power output, but at the cost of giving off a lot more harmonics, spurs, IMD, etc. Most CBers will drive the amp as hard as they can until they see no additional power increase, which will guarantee that it gives off lots of trash.

<blockquote data-quote="Moleculo" data-source="post: 142998" data-attributes="member: 1">I imagine that there are probably a few people that have put these amps on Spec Analyzers to test them out, but there aren&#039;t any &quot;official&quot; specs.&nbsp; I remember a few years ago looking at a Texas Star on a spec analyzer, but I don&#039;t remember the outcome.&nbsp; &nbsp;You can speculate fairly easily which are the cleanest of the CB amps by looking at how they are constructed.&nbsp; Look for something that has AB biased transistors, thermal bias regulation of some type, and some type of output filtering.&nbsp; Just about the only thing that I&#039;ve seen that has all of that are some of the Palomar amps.&nbsp;&nbsp; You can also add your own filtering (30Mhz cutoff low pass filter) externally, if you want.&nbsp;The other thing that&#039;s important to understand is that you have to be careful with how hard you drive these amps also.&nbsp; Most (probably all) of the CB type amps don&#039;t have any type of input swamping to prevent over-driving the transistors.&nbsp; When you overdrive them, they will show more power output, but at the cost of giving off a lot more harmonics, spurs, IMD, etc.&nbsp; Most CBers will drive the amp as hard as they can until they see no additional power increase, which will guarantee that it gives off lots of trash.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Moleculo, post: 142998, member: 1"] I imagine that there are probably a few people that have put these amps on Spec Analyzers to test them out, but there aren't any "official" specs. I remember a few years ago looking at a Texas Star on a spec analyzer, but I don't remember the outcome. You can speculate fairly easily which are the cleanest of the CB amps by looking at how they are constructed. Look for something that has AB biased transistors, thermal bias regulation of some type, and some type of output filtering. Just about the only thing that I've seen that has all of that are some of the Palomar amps. You can also add your own filtering (30Mhz cutoff low pass filter) externally, if you want. The other thing that's important to understand is that you have to be careful with how hard you drive these amps also. Most (probably all) of the CB type amps don't have any type of input swamping to prevent over-driving the transistors. When you overdrive them, they will show more power output, but at the cost of giving off a lot more harmonics, spurs, IMD, etc. Most CBers will drive the amp as hard as they can until they see no additional power increase, which will guarantee that it gives off lots of trash. [/QUOTE]

Top Bottom